Tuesday, October 28, 2014

The Missing Movie

Google is failing me, so I thought I'd ask for your help.

I'm trying to track down a movie that I only know from it's trailer.  It's a relatively recent indy film, a neo-noir with strong action/martial arts elements.

- The trailer opens with a guy waking up in a pool of water and blood. He says something like "I could taste blood in my mouth.  I wasn't sure whose blood it was."

- One scene features the protagonist getting beaten up and giving his attacker pointers, including a reference to using proper form to get an explosive release.

- At least one scene involves a field of wind turbines.

- The closing scene of the trailer has the protagonist sitting across from an older man while they eat sausage with a knife.  The older man makes a reference to something along the lines of  "when two masters meet the battle is decided before it even begins" and then lunges with the knife.  The older man is played by a character actor who I've seen a million times, but I can't think of his name.

- The trailer uses either the theme from "The Third Man" or something very close, with the action beats of the trailer edited to the music.

I know this seems incredibly obscure, but I'm at my wits end.

Update:  My thanks to bob_d, a god amongst men.  Despite my vague and inaccurate description he recognized it as "The Perfect Sleep" from 2009.


This does have a Lovecraftian connection.  I remembered this trailer had an absolutely perfect rhythm edit that I wanted to point out to a fledgling filmmaker working on a Mythos project.  The middle of the trailer is mushy and kind of formless, but at 1:22 from the kick onward it's a beautiful piece of work.  What's interesting about it is that the dragging middle actually increases the impact of the final 30 seconds.  It's flacid and dull and then..boom!  Music stinger and kick, action pause as music rolls in, and then a series of shots perfectly edited to the music cues.  Notice how the editor used sound effects as a counterpoint to the music.  That's a pro at work.

And, yes, I realize how freakish it is that I would remember this trailer's editing and forget the film's actual title.  I was an editor for years before my career path went horribly awry.  Heh.

4 comments:

fearless-freak said...

i would have said Bunraku, but i'm not exactly sure

bob_d said...

This sounded really familiar and was driving me crazy, so I tracked it down. (And discovered that I hadn't ever seen the trailer, so I don't know why it sounded familiar. Which is going to drive me crazy trying to figure out what it is that I'm actually remembering. Ha.)
"The Perfect Sleep" from 2008.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah4c4ODTgbU

Anonymous said...

Oddly enough, it sounds like the plot/narrative structure for Charles Bronson's original film, The Mechanic (remade in recent years with Jason Statham, and co-starring Donald Sutherland).

However, I'm sure this isn't the film in question. Regardless, I hope you find out what it is/was.

There were no other details that you can remember (i.e. - releasing studio, director, etc...)?

Propnomicon said...

@ bob_d

You. Are. Awesome.

@ Anonymous

Great movie. The scene where Bronson tests his protege with the girl at the party is absolutely chilling.